


A Shakey Foundation

by Lathya



Series: Grown With Care [1]
Category: Ed Edd n Eddy
Genre: KevEdd - Freeform, M/M, Slow Burn, background for the romance, brief episodes of the past, the slowest of burns
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-27
Updated: 2020-06-27
Packaged: 2021-03-04 07:27:40
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 8
Words: 12,970
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24939805
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lathya/pseuds/Lathya
Summary: This is part one of a four part KevEdd Slow Burn fic. Part one centers on interactions between Edd and Kevin throughout the series, before the actual romance begins. Most of these are just continuations of some episodes that wrap things up a little nicer and give Kevin and Edd a few more chances to get to know each other.
Relationships: Edd "Double D"/Kevin, Eddy/Nazz (Ed Edd n Eddy)
Series: Grown With Care [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1805044
Kudos: 73





	1. Coming Out

**Author's Note:**

> The first chapter doesn't take place during any actual episode of the show, but takes place early on. Just laying some groundwork here.

"Hey sockhead! There you are." Edd looked up from his book, "Having Difficult Conversations" as Eddy and Ed ran up to him where he sat under the shade of a tree near the edge of the woods. Edd had hoped they wouldn't find him so soon, but he braced himself. He thought, better sooner rather than later, I suppose. "Come on, we got work to do. I've got a great idea for a scam."

"That's great Eddy," he responded nervously. "If you don't mind though, I have something of importance that I must speak to the two of you about."

"Yeah, sure, but make it quick. Time is money and I love money!"

"Very well. I also urge you to exercise discretion with what I'm about to tell you. It's extremely personal in nature and I want to keep it completely between the three of us."

"I can keep a secret, Double D." The larger Ed chimed in.

"Yeah yeah, mums the word, so what is it." Edd opened his mouth to sp,eak but the words didn't come. He fidgeted nervously and began mumbling gibberish. The other two eds shared a confused look. "Alright, out with it already!"

"I've recently been questioning my sexual orientation and after extensive research I've discovered that I no longer believe I am heterosexual but instead I have a powerful attraction towards some members of the male gender." He spoke fast as breathed in deeply when he finished.

Eddy and Ed just stared at him. Edd recognized the look, they didn't understand a word he said. Curse my comprehensive vocational, he thought to himself. He sighed and said simply, "I'm attracted to men."

The eyes of the other two eds went momentarily wide before eddy scoffed, "yeah right. I've totally seen you making googily eyes at Nazz. I know you like her."

"Well, yes, that is true. I should specify that my attraction is not limited to either male or female genders. According to my research I would be bisexual, or maybe pansexual, I haven't quiet figured it out completely yet."

Eddy and Ed took in the information for a quiet moment before Ed gave Edd a strong hug.

"Aww, our little Double D is growing up."

"Thank you, Ed. But could you please remove me from your armpit." Ed pulled Edd up and held him with his arms stretched out, he smiled brightly at his friend. "Eddy?"

"Whatever. Just don't fall in love with me or anything."

"I will attempt to contain myself, Eddy."

"Good, now let's get to work." 

Just a short while later and they were in the middle of the culvasac. Bright lights and loud music blasted out of the nightclub they created as Eddy shouted out to get everyone's attention.

“Enjoy the hippest scene this side of the creek, only here at Eddy's Night Club!”

“It's the middle of the day, dork!” Their first would-be customer showed up. Edd stepped out from the loud noise with hands over his ears, glad he got everything set up to work automatically. Thankfully the night club scene seems to be all about repetitive loud beats, so he just set up a DJ machine to play the same beat on repeat and flash colorful lights to match. He left Ed dancing happily with himself inside. “Plus the music's too loud!” Edd heard Kevin shout as he freed himself of the musical torture he created.

“What do you know. It's a party, the music's supposed to be loud!”

“Oh cool a party!” Nazz excitedly walked up, the rest of the neighborhood kids not far behind her.

“The music shatter's Rolf's eardrums! This is a great celebration, yes?”

“Oh look, Sarah, we can finally show off our new dance moves!” 

The kids all lined up, even Kevin rolled his eyes and joined in. If everyone was going to go, he might as well check it out. As Eddy took in the money from the kids, he dragged his friend in behind him and looked on in glee as everyone enjoyed the dance floor. 

“Isn't this great Double D. Now all we gotta do is enjoy the party. I'm going to dazzle them with the cool dance moves my brother taught me.” Eddy received no response so he looked up and saw Edd with his hands over his ears and saw the googily eyed look on his face. With a chuckle he elbowed Edd in the side. “Why don't you stop checking Nazz out and go dance.”

“I'm really not much of a dancer. No, I think I'll stay-”

“Wait, Nazz is over there. Who were you staring at?”

“Eh, what, I wasn't staring at anyone!” Edd's voice raised an octave as Eddy looked back where Edd was staring. Kevin stood by himself next to the “Refreshment Table” as he studied the look of the water, almost certain the Ed's just took it out of the creek.

“You were giving googily eyes to KEVIN!”

“I was not!” Eddy didn't listen and just dragged Edd back out of the night club. Once outside he turned on his friend. “Is THAT why you told us that this morning! You have a crush on Kevin!!”

“I do not have a c-crush on-”

“Then what's with the googily eyes!!”

“I do not have googily eyes! Please Eddy, I do hope this isn't some judgmental discrimination on your part based on what I confessed to you this morning. I had hoped you would be more open-minded than that.”

“Look I don't care that you're into guys, I care that you're into KEVIN! He's a jerk!”

“I never said I was into Kevin.” 

The pair continued to argue as the party went on inside. Everyone was having a great time when Jonny, while doing a spin with Plank, accidentally let the piece of wood slip from his grasp and bump against Edd's DJ machine.

“You rascal you. Where do you think you're going?” Jonny asked as he ran over and picked up his friend. When Plank landed he fell against a switch on the machine which increased the speed of the music. Everything went so fast and the lights flashed so much that the kids all started to get dizzy. Ed, who had been enjoying the party, tried to stay in beat with the music at it's faster beat. Unable to see what was going on around him as danced feverishly, he crashed into the stumbling kids. One by one he bumped them all into a different part of the dance floor, causing the kids to crash against the supports holding up the building.

Edd stopped mid-shout as he looked away from Eddy and saw the night club begin to sway back and forth. “Oh dear!” Edd started to run towards the collapsing building.

“Hey, I ain't done talkin' to ya!” Eddy turned to follow when he saw the building, “MY NIGHT CLUB!” Just then the building came crashing down. The loud music and lights stopped as the roof crashed down on the DJ Machine. Edd rushed into the rubble and started picking up debris as he tried to find the others. Ed popped up first.

“What a bang that party was!”

The rest of the kids groaned as they pulled themselves out of the rubble. Sarah was the first to storm up to Eddy.

“You're stupid club broke Jimmy!”

“Owie, Sarah.” He limped after her.

“We want a refund!”

“A refund?” But Eddy didn't get a chance to retort as Sarah ripped the jar of change away from Eddy and brought the money back to the others before they all stormed passed.

Kevin shouted as he passed Edd, still holding a piece of debris in his hands.

“Nice going, dorks.”

Edd's hands tightened around the piece of wood. His mind wandered briefly to a few weeks prior. 

Kevin's father had gotten the job at the jawbreaker factory and, in an attempt to get a hold of some of the tasty treats, Edd suggested they befriend Kevin. Honestly, Edd was excited about the opportunity. Eddy and Kevin had always had animosity between them, some long held rivalry, born before Edd had moved to the culvasac. But Kevin had always seemed like a decent person and Edd relished the chance to repair the bond between the two neighbors and maybe gain a new friend.

Needless to say, the attempts at gaining Kevin's favor were a failure. Edd was never good at making friends, but he had hoped that all that reading on the subject would have helped so he was disheartened it didn't seem to have an impact. In the end, Eddy decided that stealing the jawbreakers was the only thing left to do.

After attempting to dig into the garage to get to the jawbreakers, Edd had accidentally miscalculated the distance. But honestly, how could they expect him to focus when they were making him steal. Either way, they ended up digging right into Kevin's bathroom while he was taking a bath.

Edd was mortified. He instantly looked away and Kevin kicked them out before they had a chance to really see anything. It was such a brief moment, but something about it stuck with Edd. Enough that he began questioning himself, leading to several days worth of intense research and this mornings confession.

And now he stood in the pile of rubble created after another day of failure.

As if it would matter if I had a crush on Kevin. That certainly is never going to happen.

“What a bunch of- of DORKS!” Kevin tried, he did. He tried giving the Eds the benefit of the doubt so many times, but Eddy always has to try to scam and manipulate everyone. And the others aren't much better because they go along with it, helping him trick and scam the neighborhood. 

Kevin sulked as he went back to the kitchen, where he was finishing up his lunch before all that commotion go his attention. He finished off the last few bites of his sandwich and chugged down the now room temperature glass of milk. Noticing the dishwasher already running, his mother must have started it while he was out with the others, he took his dishes to the sink. He could hear his mom down the hall humming to herself as she ironed the laundry. Just as he grabbed the sponge his father walked in. 

“Kevin, there you are.”

“Hey dad.”

“Leave that there, you're mother can take care of it.” Kevin looked awkwardly at the dish in his plate. It would only take a second and his mom was already busy with the laundry. “Come on.” His dad walked towards the back door so he left the plate and followed behind.

“What's up?”

“You and I are going to get a little work done today.” Kevin watched as his dad stood next to a large something, it had a cover over it and he couldn't quite make it out, but his dad pulled the cover off in one quick motion and Kevin's eyes lit up.

“Choice! A new car!”

“Well, it's used. I want your help fixing it up.” The thought of getting his hands a real engine made Kevin more excited than he'd been in a while. All he had to work on was his bike. He loved his bike, no doubt, but he was eager to put his skills to the test with something a bit more difficult. “We need to clean up the engine, replace the brake pads, and I want to check for any leaks. I already have it scheduled to get a new paint job tomorrow.” Kevin gave the car a look over. The paint job seemed fine. In fact, it looked pretty new, like whoever owned it before had just painted it a nice light blue. It even had a bit of a shimmer in it. No scratches or anything. “Can't go driving this around until we get rid of that girly paint job. Don't want anyone thinking I'm some sort of pansy.” And there it is. Kevin smile dropped, but he didn't say anything. 

His dad handed him a wrench and brought him around to the engine to get started. The two of them worked for a while in relative silence, save for the his dad's occasional quick explanation of instructions.

“Hey, dad.”

“Yes, son.”

“Were you able to get those tickets I asked you about?” His dad paused for a moment before responding.

“What tickets were they now?”

“The monster truck rally. You said if I helped you clean out the garage last week then you'd look into tickets for rally next month.”

“I don't remember promising that. You do your chores because you live here you know.” His dad looked up and gave him a hard look. “Don't go trying to get free stuff now.” Kevin knew his dad had promised him. Kevin had already done all his chores when his dad decided last minute to clean out the garage, he couldn't find the power-drill he needed and hoped it was in the garage. He promised Kevin he'd take him out somewhere as a treat for helping if they got it done before dinner and agreed when Kevin brought up the monster truck rally. They got the drill and had the garage done with an hour to spare before dinner. This was so typical.

“Right dad.” Kevin didn't argue it and just got back to work. When the sun started to go down his dad called it a night and covered up the car again, so the neighbor's wouldn't think he “had some girly car” and they went inside for dinner.

Kevin's mom was just setting the table. With a quick glace around the house he noticed she had finished the laundry, unloaded the dishwasher, picked up his dirty dishes from the sink, cooked up a hearty dinner, and cleaned up the kitchen. Kevin hurried to the bathroom to wash his hands before eating.

“After dinner why don't you go get yourself a jawbreaker, Kevin, as thanks for helping me with the car today.” Kevin held back rolling his eyes, he had free access to the jawbreakers giving him one as a treat wasn't anything. He wanted to say “Why don't you thank me with tickets to the monster truck rally?” But he just thanked him and finished his dinner.


	2. Making Amends

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Edd wakes up after his day of no sleep to find the culvasac under water and no memory of what happened, but apparenly it's his fault.

In retrospect, staying up all night to complete a toothpick scale model of the Peach Creek Bridge was probably a bad idea. Edd's brain was in a fog all day and he certainly had no idea how he ended up on a raft floating around the flooded culvasac with Ed, Eddy, Rolf, and Jonny. 

“Good lord! What happened?” Edd bellowed as his eyes adjusted to the light.

“Aw, the sleepy Ed-boy awakens, does he?” A disgruntled Rolf stands over him.

“You flooded the neighborhood, sockhead.” Eddy piped in from his spot at the corner of the raft.

“I flooded the neighborhood? How did I do this?”

“It was your plans! We wanted to build an aquarium, but this is too much! I can't scam, er,” Eddy looked over at Rolf and Jonny, “I mean treat everyone to an under the sea experience if they drown in it!”

“Oh dear, we need to fix this.” Edd looked over the edge of the raft into the water. He could see Nazz at her bedroom window looking out utterly confused at the strange sight. “ooh! not good, not good, not good. Why do I have no recollection of this?”

“Double D was a sleepy baby that nobody tucked in.” The group on the raft gave Ed a curious look before Edd's memory caught up with him.

“Ah! I stayed up too late last night. I must have been barely conscience all day. Oh, curse my completion compulsion tendencies!” Eddy and Ed looked on in veiled amusement as their friend lamented over their predicament.

“You are lucky Rolf could not find a stick, smart Ed-boy or Rolf would have carved your potatoes. Your sleepy-time advice caused Rolf and his vegetables to become burned by the hot wax and there are still lobsters in my garden. Will you fix this too?”

“And don't forget about Plank!” Jonny held the board in front of Edd's face. “He's not the same with this thing on his face!”

“I did what?” Edd was mortified. What did he become when he didn't get a full night's sleep. Never again would he stay up all night.

“You said it Plank!” Jonny yelled out. “Edd does give bad advice when he's sleepy.”

“Advice?”

“Yeah, everyone kept trying to ask you stuff all day,” Eddy explained. “We had you first!”

“Oh my, it sounds like in my clouded state of mind I accidentally conveyed detrimental consultation which appears to have lead to quite the precarious disaster. Well then,” he stood, a bit shaky as the raft moved over the water, “I will just have to amend my errors. First, this flood. Eddy, where was this aquarium we were building.”

“Downriver.” Eddy pointed down the hill.

“I imagine the failed contraption is blocking the water then. We will have to dislodge whatever is there.”

It wasn't long before the Eds, with Rolf and Jonny in tow, found their way to the blocked part of the river. They sent Ed down and he was about to quickly dislodge the debris from the river and the water quickly sank. Edd was then quickly dragged in by Jonny to assist with Plank's strange growth which was remedied by Edd's nail file.

“You carry that around with you sock head?”

“Double D has pretty fingernails.”

“Proper nail care is nothing to scoff at. I will need a new file though, this one might give me splinters now.”

“Come smart Ed-boy, you help Rolf now.” And again Edd was dragged away to solve yet another problem. The draining water seemed to have washed away the lobsters and hot wax, but there were still holes in the garden which needed filling and scattered farm animals that had to be round up. Ed was happy to track down and carry back each of the farm animals as if it was some sort of game. Eddy and Edd have less luck as Rolf broke their backs in the garden until things were back to normal.

“Is that everything?” Edd asked as he slumped over on his shovel, too tired to move.

“Yes, yes. All is well now Ed-boys.” And with that, the three boys started to make their way home, and with only a few short hours left until dinner time. As they were crossing the culvasac, Edd noticed Kevin out in his driveway working on his bike. The bike honestly looked really messy and Edd was surprised until Kevin caught his eye and gave him a heated glare. With a vague memory popping into his head, Edd leaned forward and questioned Eddy.

“Um, did I happen to give Kevin any less than adequate advice today?”

“Huh? I guess, he seemed uppity about his bike or something.” Swallowing a nervous gulp Edd realized he still had one more person he needed to help that day. “Uh uh, no way Double D. I know that look!”

“Eddy, you know if, even by accident, I caused some damage to come to Kevin's bike then I must correct my wrongs.”

“Like he's even going to let you.”

“He did ask for my help in the first place, did he not?”

“Who cares! This is shovel-chin we're talking about, let him deal with it. We're going to Lumpy's to watch a movie.”

“Grave-Robbers From The Next Dimension is on tonight.”

“I will have to meet up with you later then.”

“Suit yourself, sockhead. No way am I helping him out.” Eddy and Ed walked on towards Ed's house while Edd slowly made his way over to Kevin, trying to remember what it was exactly that Kevin asked his help with and how he had managed to blunder it.

“Not another step, Double Dork.”

“Kevin, I only wish to help.”

“You've done enough.” Kevin didn't take his eyes off his bike.

“And I wish to apologize. It appears that due to an inadequate amount of sleep last night I wasn't mentally competent enough to offer appropriate advice that appears to have left quite the series of unfortunate transgressions. I only wish to correct my error from earlier today.” Kevin turned slowly, a glare still on his face, but he seemed to take in Edd's sincerity and pointed to the spot at the other side of his bike. Edd rushed over and sat, seeing the damage up close. There was a thick layer of toothpaste all over the chain and pedal gears of the bike, and the chain itself hung off the side. “Do you have any degreaser or isopropyl alcohol?” Kevin reached into his bag and pulled out his degreaser.

“It doesn't seem to be doing much.”

“Then we should remove the chain and soak it in the degreaser. Do you have a bucket?” Kevin ran into the garage and pulled out an old bucket. With a few quick movements, he had the chain removed and soaking. He and Edd, who had put on a pair of gloves, kept cleaning at the rest of the bike with rags and more degreaser. It was slow work, but it was getting done. The two fell into a comfortable silence as they worked.

“So,” Kevin started, a surprised Edd looked up, “you pulled an all-nighter or something last night? Wouldn't expect that outta you.”

“Yes, well. I had started a miniature-scale replica of Peach Creek Bridge out of toothpicks after dinner last night. It was quite compelling, so I lost track of time until I finished. Next thing I knew it was morning.”

“Why the bridge?”

“Peach Creek Bridge is an important fixture in our local history. I suppose I could have gone with a more famous national landmark, but it would have felt a lot less personal.”

“Hmm.” Kevin nodded in understanding. They had just finished getting the last of the toothpaste off the bike, which now shown like new. Kevin reached into the bucket and pulled out the bike chain which was now toothpaste free. 

“We should oil up the chain well after the soak to ensure it's properly lubricated for use.” Kevin pulled out a can of WD-40 from his tool bag and sprayed a healthy coat onto the chain and then reattached it to the bike. He then hopped on and gave it a quick spin around the driveway.

“Choice! It's working perfect now.”

“I am glad you are pleased, Kevin.”

“Yeah, good job Double Dork. Now make sure you don't pull any more all-nighters.”

“I assure you, Kevin, I will never do anything like that again.” 

Kevin opened his mouth as if to say something more when his dad leaned out of the front door shouting, “Dinner!”

“Coming,” Kevin shouted back before facing back to Edd. “See you later.”

“Farewell, Kevin.” Edd folded up the rag he used, along with Kevin's, and left them beside the tool bag. Kevin had left them there as he ran in for dinner. Edd then walked across the street and threw his dirty gloves in the trash can outside his own house.

The sun was beginning to set and Edd could tell that enough time had passed that Ed's movie would be over by now. Eddy would be heading home himself for dinner any minute if he hadn't already. Edd didn't recall Eddy passing him and Kevin in the street, but if he was being honest with himself, he wasn't paying much attention to what was going beyond the driveway. Edd tried to cover a small blush as he made his way inside to start on his own dinner.


	3. Payment Granted

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rolf reflects on the Ed's latest scam and decides that maybe some payment is earned.

Rolf chuckled maliciously as he watched Ed “dance” with the other two Ed's. That's My Horse was a rough dance for the untrained and the two smaller Ed-boys were getting pummeled by Ed's enthusiastic twisting and pulling. Although the delight in the Ed's punishment for tricking Rolf into thinking he was actually back in his home country was short-lived. He let the sounds of the screaming Eds fade into the background as he looked around at the sham “home” town around him.

Rolf was disappointed in himself for falling for it. It was so obvious now that it was all fake, that the Eds were only play-acting their roles. He just wanted so badly to be back in his home country that he easily accepted the lie. But he noticed the small touches that gave the junkyard scraps that authentic feel, and he remembered Edd balancing himself upon the bartering pole in order to haggle with him. He looked back over to the suffering Eds and gave a heavy sigh.

“That is enough Ed-Boy. Stop the dancing of That's My Horse.”

“Aww. I was just getting into it too.”

“Oh, sweet mercy.” Edd whimpered from where he fell on the ground. Eddy a sore lump beside him. Rolf began to walk away. Edd lifted himself up and watched Rolf retreat. A few steps away Rolf stopped when his foot hit the empty jar Eddy had brought for the oh so many quarters Eddy had hoped to cheat out of him. Rolf picked up the jar and gave it a thoughtful look as the Eds shrugged in confusion to each other before slowly making their way towards the exit.

Eddy turned back quickly when he heard the oh so sweet sound of three, that's right, THREE quarters clanging against the glass of the jar. Without thought, and acting purely on instinct, Eddy shot over to Rolf and grabbed the jar out of his hands, holding it up above his head so he could see the quarters shinning in the light of the sun, then yelled out it glee “Money!”

“Eddy!” Edd scolded, mostly out of habit.

“It is alright Ed-boy.” Rolf piped in. The other Eds looked at him. “Rolf has been feeling sick for his home in the Old Country, and even though your crude imitation of Rolf's most cherished place was made with selfish intentions being here has eased some of Rolf's sickness. You may keep the money as thanks, but DON'T DO IT AGAIN!” A huge grin spread across Eddy's face.

“Do you know what this means?” He shouted.

“Jawbreakers!” Edd and Ed responded.

“Why, thank you, Rolf. That is very generous of you.”

“Thanks are not necessary, now begone from Rolf's property at once!” The three Eds didn't wait to be asked again, they excitedly ran out to the street and straight down to the candy shop as Rolf walked around the fake town some more and took in the fake, yet familiar structures.

The Eds walked out of the candy store with their mouths stuffed with a giant jawbreaker each, happy expressions of satisfaction on their faces. They took their time walking back to the culvasac as they savored their favorite treat.

Kevin was riding around the culvasac, practicing tricks on his bike when he saw the Eds walk up the street with their mouths full of jawbreakers. His eyes narrowed as he came to a stop beside them.

“You'd you scam this time, dorks?”

“Psh, you're just jealous that we have jawbreakers and you don't.” Eddy mocked.

“Yeah right, did you forget that my garage is literally full of jawbreakers.” Eddy's mouth hung open when he couldn't think of a clever response.

“Whatever!” Eddy made to walk away.

“I might not what you did, but I'm sure I owe you a pounding,” Kevin smirked as he started to step off his bike.

“Wait, Kevin! We honestly acquired the money for these jawbreakers! Er...more or less.” Edd chimed in. As Ed ducked behind him.

“Yeah right, like I'd believe that. Why don't you just confess.”

“We can not confess to a crime we did not commit!” Ed shouted out.

“Yeah, what he said. We earned these!” Eddy shouted back. “Just ask Rolf.”

“So it was Rolf you scammed.”

“There were no deceitful intentions when Rolf agreed to pay us for our work, Kevin.” Edd's legs shook as he stood his ground. Kevin glared hard at him.

“I'll just ask him then.” He then stepped back onto his bike and rode straight to Rolf's yard.

“Yeah, you just do that! He's at the construction site!” Eddy yelled after him as Kevin glared back before changing direction. “What a jerk. Come on, let's go watch a movie or something.”

“Oh, there's a Brain Suckers From Jupiter marathon on tonight.”

“That sounds delightful, Ed.”

Kevin parked his bike outside a large stage-like model of a town taking over the construction site. He looked around curiously before spotting Rolf laying in a pile of hay and sipping a glass or some weirdly thick drink. As Kevin approached Rolf caught sight of him and waved him over.

“Greetings Kevin, welcome to Rolf's home in the Old Country.” He said as he laughed.

“Rolf, you do know this is all fake right?”

“Yes, yes, Kevin. Rolf does not have sheep's wool over his thighs.”

“Er, eyes, Rolf.”

“Rolf would never remove a sheep's eyes! He is no barbarian.”

“Did you really give the Ed's money for a fake town?”

“Yes, Rolf let the Ed-boys keep their measly coins for their shenanigans. They have amused Rolf this day.”

“Huh. OK then.” Kevin is surprised. He felt a bit bad, only for a moment, for accusing them of something they didn't do, but he left the feeling pass. It was their own fault anyway. It's not like they had a record of being honest or anything.

“Come, Kevin, let Rolf get you a mug of well water and show you his Idiot Hole.”

“Ahh, that's OK, Rolf. I should really be-”

“Come!” Rolf grabbed his arm and pulled him along to show off the great things about his home country.


	4. What WERE they talking about?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Eddy was very suspicious when Kevin called Edd over to talk. What the heck were they whispering about it? (very short chapter)

Eddy was absolutely losing it. His magazines were nowhere to be found and he was becoming increasingly more paranoid about where they were and who took them. He was certain that Kevin was involved. Of course, Kevin would be involved. If there was a way for Kevin to make Eddy's life a living hell then he would gladly take that opportunity.

And worst of it, Eddy suspected that Edd was involved as well. Eddy knew for a fact that Kevin was involved, but Edd kept trying to “reason” with him. Edd was trying maybe a bit too hard to ensure him that Kevin, KEVIN, was not involved when he for sure was. First Ed “hid” them. But maybe he really just handed them off to Kevin? Are both of his best friends traitors?

While Eddy ranted on to his possibly traitorous friends in an attempt to get his magazines back he was silenced when he heard Kevin, the thief, call out for Edd. Confused and honestly a bit frightened, Edd made his way over to the fence where Kevin was sitting on his bike and waving him over. 

Oh, Kevin couldn't have picked worse timing, Edd thought to himself as he walked over. He knew Eddy was only going to get more suspicious of him.

“Hey, hurry up will ya.” Kevin called out as was Edd tip-toeing his way over. Edd picked up the pace. “What time is it?” Edd cocked his head in confusion. “You're smart, can't you count time with the shadow or something? I have a show starting at three and I don't want to miss it.”

“Ah, yes, no time to spare then. Let's see then.” Edd looked down at the shadows that he and Kevin cast, then up to see where the sun was sitting. While holding his finger up he mumbled a bit to himself as he calculated out the movement. “It is precisely two-twenty-five. Give or take a minute or two. But Kevin, why ask me? Don't you usually wear a watch.”

“Damn things busted. I can't get it to work?”

“Does it need a hand?” Edd let out a light chuckle.

“No, it-” Kevin stopped. “Was that a pun?”

“Ah, yes, well-” Kevin let out a low laugh. 

“Not bad. You know, I heard they were making a movie called clocks. It's about time.” Kevin smiled at his joke while Edd laughed loudly. Kevin just told him a joke! Kevin was smiling at him. It was almost as if they were friends. Edd leaned into the fence.

“I once caught Ed trying to eat a clock. Apparently it was very time-consuming.” The two of them erupted into laughter. They went back and forth like this, each pun worse than the last as their laughter grew.

“Well, I better get going. Need to get my snacks in order before my show starts. Nice talking to you, Double Dee.”

“Yes, Kevin, it's been a pleasure as well. Enjoy your show.” And with that Edd waved Kevin off and walked back to his friends with a wide smile on his face. He was positively giddy. He had a conversation with Kevin, a very pleasant one at that. They told jokes, Edd made Kevin smile. 

“What were you talking to shovel-chin about? Eh, sockhead.”

“He just wanted to know to the time, Eddy.”

“Yeah right, you don't even wear a watch.” Edd opened his mouth to reply, but just stayed quiet and let Eddy continue with his tirade. He'd just keep his conversation with Kevin as his own little secret. It would be nice to have at least that, since it was unlikely Edd would ever get the opportunity again. And having Eddy scrutinize it would only sully what was really a very blissful moment.

Eddy charged on trying to find his magazines and Edd and Ed followed suit.


	5. Smarter Than You Think

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kevin really doesn't like that Edd thinks he as dumb as the rest of the culvasac and sets out to prove him wrong.

Kevin walked over to see what the crowd of culvasac kids was for and saw each of them hugging a new pet.

“Isn't this one just adorable!” Jimmy shouted in glee as he held up what was clearly a tennis ball with paper ears tapped on, a shoelace for a tale, and a drawn-on face. “I'm going to call him Squeakers!”

Looking over Kevin saw it was the Ed's latest scam. Eddy was shouting from his place behind a display of reject fake pets while Ed gushed over his new “chicken” friend. Edd stood just to the side of the display with a displeased look on his face. Kevin walked right by Edd on his way over to better inspect the lame merchandise and maybe throw a few insults at Eddy when he heard Edd mutter, “I am surrounded by idiots.” He looked over his shoulder just as Jonny pulled Edd over to help him decide between the porcupine with spoons on its back or the turtle made out of an old helmet.

Standing in the middle of the crowd of kids, each of them ranting on about how much they loved their new pet, Kevin felt a chill go down his spine. I'm not an idiot! He thought to himself. Not like all these losers. Forgetting his plans to pick on Eddy he turned and stormed off, Edd's words ringing in his head.

“I'll prove to him I'm not an idiot. That dork. He can't go lumping me in with the rest of 'em” Kevin stops still in the middle of his ranting as he contemplated how he would prove himself to Edd. “I'll just finish that silly scavenger hunt, it didn't seem all that hard.” He remembered dropping his list of clues and the bag for collecting them near the line of trees behind his house and made his way there. He found them quickly.

Without having to look at the list he picked up an acorn and threw it into the bag remembering already that the answer to the first clue, “when I grow up I want to be a tree” must have been an acorn. It was while picking up the first clue that he decided to give up on the whole thing. Kevin still didn't want the jawbreaker prize everyone was going on about earlier, but now he had to uphold his rep, so he'd do it. 

Kevin looked down at the list to read the second clue. “Turn out the light and rest your head on me tonight. A pillow, duh.” Kevin ran into his house and grabbed the pillow on his bed. “OK, next. From dirt to paint and everything in between, I'm your number one companion in keeping clean. Psst. Of course, the dork would put in something like that, it's obviously soap.” It wasn't long before Kevin had zig-zagged through his house and picked the last two of the clues: When you look at me, you see you, he grabbed his mom's compact mirror from the bathroom. My chime can be loud or it can be soft, but no matter what it's time to get up, going back to his room he grabbed the alarm clock by his bed.

“Only five questions, that didn't take long at all.” Kevin then made sure he had all the items in the bag and with a small smile on his face he went to go find that double dork.

Kevin knocked loudly on Edd's door and didn't have to wait long until the boy answered. Before Edd had a chance to say hello, Kevin thrust the bag into Edd's hands. He yelled, “I'm not an idiot, OK!” and then stormed off leaving a very confused Edd behind. Edd looked into the bag and noticed that it held all the answers from the clues. A wide smile spread across Edd's face. “Oh, rapture! Kevin actually went and completed my scavenger hunt. It wasn't all for naught after all!” Edd wanted to run and thank Kevin, but after he stepped forward he stopped himself. He did promise a prize for completing the scavenger hunt after all. Originally he had already handwritten a few simple diplomas for everyone, but after the failure earlier on he threw them all away. He couldn't possibly pull Kevin's diploma from the trash to give to him, not when he went out and did the hunt after everyone else had quit, when even he had given up on it and of helping educate the kids of the culvasac. Kevin showed him that there was hope yet for this little neighborhood so he would get his diploma, but Edd would make sure it was extra special. With an excited skip in his step, Edd ran up the stairs to his room.

At his desk, he pulled out a clean sheet of paper, this time from his stash of thick decorative paper he liked to use for custom made cards. It would work well for this as well. He also had a calligraphy set he had been practicing with since his parents got it for him at Christmas so he pulled that out as well. With a well-trained hand, Edd wrote out a very elegant diploma, “...for excellence in perseverance and intelligence. Awarded to Kevin Barr.” Edd added in a bit of extra flair with his design and even used silver ink for some extra decoration around the border. It took about an hour of work, a bit longer than he planned, but it came out perfect. He almost kissed it. But instead, he waited patiently for it to dry as he rummaged through his craft drawer for a ribbon to tie it closed. 

Once it was ready Edd grabbed the bag of items Kevin had left with him and started across the street. It was getting a bit late, Edd hoped he wouldn't be disturbing Kevin during dinner with his family or anything. He thought about waiting until morning, but he was much too excited to see Kevin's reaction to his prize.

Kevin had a quick dinner with his mom, his dad was working late so they just heated up some leftovers instead of making a whole big thing. Now he was pacing around the living room, annoyed at himself. “I can't believe I left all my stuff! He has my pillow now, and mom's mirror. She's going to be so upset. Why'd I run off like that? I could have just had him check the bag and took it back. Going back now would just be so lame.” His ranting was cut short by the sound of the doorbell and a smiling Edd who greeted him when he opened the door.

“Hello, Kevin. I wanted to thank you for taking the time to finish the scavenger hunt that I prepared. It really does mean a lot that you worked so hard on it.” Edd spoke excitedly as soon as he saw Kevin's face.

“Whatever,” Kevin hid his surprise and slumped back, trying to look bored “it's not like it was that hard.” Edd's smile seems to actually get bigger.

“Well, be that as it may, I wanted to return these to you.” He held up the bag of Kevin's stuff which Kevin sets down on his side of the door. “And also to give you this.” Kevin opens the paper curiously as he reads it. He notices the way Edd hand wrote everything in some fancy cursive style that probably took quite a while. Heck, with all the weird stuff Double Dee is into he's probably so good at this kind of thing that it barely took him a minute. It was almost like a piece of art. Kevin was suddenly self-conscious of how dirty his hands were, he hadn't even been doing anything that would have made his hands dirty, and didn't want to get any stains on it so he rolled it back up, secured the ribbon, and stuck it carefully into his back pocket.

“A diploma, huh? No Jawbreaker?” He tried not to let his fascination with it show.

“Indeed. You weren't there when I told the rest of the culvasac, but I thought a diploma would be a perfect prize. Everyone else had only just assumed the prize was a jawbreaker. After all, what prize is better than knowledge itself and the confirmation of a job well done.” Edd looked damn well proud of himself. Kevin let a small smile slip. “Well, I won't keep you. Congratulations, Kevin, and thank you.” With that Edd walked back to his house.

Kevin closed the door and twisted slightly to look down at the diploma in his pocket. An idea popped into his head. He grabbed the bag of stuff, dropped it on the floor of his room, and took a picture frame off the wall that was hidden under a large motorcycle poster that hung down the wall. It was his diploma from elementary school, a silly looking thing written in big bubble lettering and decorated with balloons and confetti printed on the sides. His mom thought it would be fun to frame. Kevin thought it was dorky. He didn't argue it at the time and just covered it with the poster, his mom never said anything so it's not like she'll come back looking for it. 

Carefully, Kevin set the new diploma inside it, reset it on the wall, and moved the poster out of the way. He stepped back to admire it on the wall with a smile.


	6. Take Responsiblity

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kevin's on a rampage after the Ed's attack their kids in their stupid Chimp World. At least, he thinks it was them.

Kevin didn't know what the hell those Eds thought they were trying to pull, but he was absolutely going to pound them into next week. First, they pull a Houdini and vanish. Then they set up their lame-o Chimp World so everyone lets their guard down, but not Kevin, he knew they were up to something. Then they attack everyone from the shadows like some Dork-Ninjas! Oh, he was going to make them pay. Just as soon as he found them.

“EDDY!” Kevin heard a shriek. He recognized it instantly as Edd. Kevin never understood why Edd hung out with those other two dorks. On his own, he wasn't bad, but he let himself get roped into Eddy's stupid plans. Kevin knew that Ed was always upset with Eddy, but it's not like he did anything to get the shorter dork to cut it out. Heck, he helped him with his plans.

Kevin followed the sound of the shout back a little ways down the path he came and heard mumbling from the other side of the fence.

“Oh, dirty, dirty, dirty.” Yep, definitely Edd. Kevin hoisted himself up over the fence and shouted down.

“Hey Dork!” 

“Ahh!!” Edd screamed, his shirt was half off and covering his head. Scared he started to run and smacked right into the fence. Forgetting his anger for a moment, Kevin let out a laugh as he watched Edd sit up and fix his shirt. “K-Kevin!” Edd stammered Kevin jumped down and stomped toward him. “T-to what do I owe the pleasure, Kevin?”

“Why are you getting dressed in an ally?”

“Ah, well, you see, this is...” Kevin's memory then caught up with him.

“You think you're real slick don't you?”

“Huh?”

“Don't think just because you pull some disappearing act I'm going to let you and those other dorks get away with anything. Where are those other two anyway?”

“Ed seems to have misplaced some essential items for one of Eddy's new... projects, they went looking for them.”

“Oh, don't start playing dumb. I know all about your Chimp World scam.”

“You do?”

“Yeah, and I'm not falling for it like the others.”

“Well, it seems there will be nothing to fall for today Kevin, we were never able to finish.”

“Huh?”

“I'll have to go and start taking everything down before anyone else finds it. It's still entirely unstable. Ed's costume was missing a few parts and I got pulled away to help find them before I was able to complete the construction. It's much too late now, especially since Ed still hasn't been able to recall where he placed his mask and glove.” Edd mostly mumbled to himself, but Kevin realized he messed up. If the Eds didn't do the attack on purpose then...

“I left everyone stuck back there!”

“Stuck where?”

“That stupid Chimp World, everyone started jumping around and it fell apart on them.” Edd's eyes shot wide open.

“Not good! Not good! Not good!!” Edd ran quickly straight towards Chimp World, Kevin quickly catching up and then getting in front of Edd to beat him there. “Oh, curse my short legs.” He mumbled as he got to the park, Kevin already helping Nazz down from where she hung. It wasn't long before the kids were all back down on the ground again and Edd was incessantly apologizing for the sub-par craftsmanship that subjected them to such agony. He also pulled out his first aid kit and set to work mending any cuts and bruises the kids obtained from the faulty Chimp World.

The kids all left in a huff. Kevin, still not satisfied with everything, hung back. Edd reached to pull at a rope hanging down near the entrance but then paused when he saw Kevin still standing there. 

“Kevin, do you mind taking about three steps to your right, please?” Kevin gave him a curious look, but then slowly complied. Edd wasn't dumb enough to try something when it was just the two of them like this. Seeming satisfied with Kevin's new position, Edd pulled on the rope and every piece of Chimp World fell to the ground around them, perfectly avoiding where both Kevin and Edd stood.

“Not bad. Now, who's going to clean up this mess?”

“Usually that's Ed's assignment, but seeing as he and Eddy are still out trying to locate the missing pieces of Ed's costume it appears the burden will fall to me.” Edd sighed. Kevin opened his mouth and almost offered to help. Almost. But this wasn't his problem, he knew it wasn't his job to clean up one of the Ed's messes.

“Well, good luck.” Kevin waved as he walked away. Edd sighed again and started to pick up the discarded lumber.

Thinking about Edd cleaning up that mess while the other two Eds goofed off bothered Kevin more than he thought it should. Finally, a few blocks away from where he left Edd he huffed loudly in frustration before storming off back to Jimmy's yard, where the kids were having the party earlier.

Sitting in the middle of the yard, Kevin found the discarded mask and glove then set off looking for the other two Eds. Having a better idea of where to find them now, knowing they were trying to find the very things Kevin now had in his hands, he thought to search some more out of the way places before eventually finding them digging through a pile at the junkyard.

“Hey dorks!”

“What do you want shovel-chin!?!” Kevin threw the mask and glove into Eddy's face.

“Go clean up your stupid mess!” 

“My monkey mask!! You came back to me!” Ed snatched the mask and glove from Eddy and hugged them tightly. “Now I can be the best monkey I can be.” Kevin stormed off before he could hear Eddy start something, but he looked back and saw them head in the direction of the now dismantled Chimp World. At least now Edd wouldn't have to clean up everything by himself.


	7. Grounded

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kevin is grounded so Eddy and Ed have fun messing with him, but something's up with Edd and Kevin starts to worry.

Kevin swept up the last of the dirt in the kitchen. He moved slowly as he tossed it out and put away the broom. It's not like he had anything else to do. Grumbling he wandered into the living room.

“It's not even like I wanted those magazines. Everybody was getting them. It's supposed to be normal. Whatever, she can throw them out, like I care.” His mom had found a stash of Bikini Babes magazines under his bed. Kevin had heard a bunch of the other boys talking about them and decided to get a few. After flipping through a few pages he found he didn't get the appeal but held onto them anyway. Just in case. He didn't care about losing the magazines, but he did care about losing his day. He was grounded all day and had only his chores to keep him busy, but now he was done with them. The day was still early and he had nothing to do.

A movement outside caught his attention and with a glare, he stormed over to the window. He pressed his face to the glass as he watched Eddy and Ed throw roll after roll of toilet paper over his house. Oh, he was totally going to pummel them for this. Keeping the yard clean is one of Kevin's chores and he just knows that his dad is going to make him clean it up later. He thought about running up to his parent's room where his mom was taking a brief nap after doing the grocery shopping and starting on some interior decorating she had been planning for a while, but he waited. She'll wake up on her own later, Kevin thought, no need to wake her up now. 

Kevin's look turned from a vicious glare to mild curiosity as he saw Edd approaching with a wagon full of books. Of course, the dork would be wheeling around a small library, Kevin rolled his eyes and looked over trying to see if he could figure out what they were going on about. Edd seemed fascinated by whatever was in the book he was reading and the other two just kept tossing toilet paper rolls. Until Eddy said something and Edd's face went into a panic. What the heck did he say? Then Edd passed out. Just fell back right onto the ground. Kevin pressed so hard against the glass the thought for a second that he might break through it. Then the other two Ed's picked up their friend and ran off. Kevin wanted to chase them down and figure out what was going on, he almost bolted straight for the door. But he was grounded. And his mom could wake up at any minute and he'd get in even more trouble. Heck, he'd probably get done for the toilet paper all over the yard if he was caught outside.

Most of the day was lost to panic and Edd was livid. He really thought that he was doomed. That he was truly not long for this world. Thankfully Nazz, sweet Nazz, had pointed out that cruel Kick Me sign Eddy had put on his back. His own friends had tricked him into thinking he was going to die, and he believed them. Oh, he was so mad he could just... But he held it together. He couldn't lose his temper. He had to control himself. 

Edd stopped and took a deep breath in and then slowly breathed back out. He did this three times. He made sure he had his rage perfectly in check, or as in check as he would manage to keep it before continuing on to where he was sure to find his so-called friends and give them a piece of his mind.

Back at Kevin's house, Edd found Eddy and Ed building a large brick wall around Kevin's house. Oh, Kevin's poor parents are going to have a conniption when they see this. Edd tried to ignore the wall for a moment and stormed up to his friends.

“I hope you're happy you two! To think my own friends would deceive me in such a manner. Making me think I was about to expire! Did you really think that was funny?”

“Uh, yeah.” Eddy's curt reply sent a quick shock of rage through Edd and he continued chastising them as they continued building their wall.

Kevin was going nuts. He had been looking out at the neighbor kids all day and still had nothing to do. His mind kept wandering to what happened to Edd and if he was OK. More than a few times he found himself looking out for that beanie of his. Then the other two Ed's came by and started building their stupid wall. He was so going to pummel them. And then make them clean up this mess. But Kevin knew that if the other two Eds were here than Edd would show up sooner or later, assuming he wasn't still passed out. Eddy and Ed seemed in a good enough mood so Edd was probably fine, but they were laughing when Edd passed out earlier so he wasn't very confident in that fact.

Eventually, the Ed's had built up enough of their wall that Kevin could no longer see out. Now he was truly going to lose it. He paced back and forth for what felt like hours. His mind had no distraction and it kept wandering to all the worst-case scenarios. “Maybe the Ed's just dumped Double Dee's body somewhere? Maybe he's in the hospital? His friends are such dorks, they probably left him for dead somewhere!” The stress was eating at him so he opened the door and went outside. He was probably going to get in trouble, but he had to know for sure what was going on.

Kevin made his way around the brick wall and as he approached he heard the angry ranting of Edd. At least he sounds OK. He couldn't hold back a small smile when he saw Edd chastising his friends for whatever they did. And for some reason, he was in a hospital gown. Damn, did he really end up at the hospital? Eddy laughed off Edd's anger, but then stopped dead when he saw Kevin standing behind him. He had Ed immediately panicked and ran off into Eddy's house. Kevin was so looking forward to pummeling the two of them, no way was he going to let a locked door get in the middle of it. He'd knock it down if he had to. But then Edd sauntered over and made a bit of a show of “dropping” his copy of Eddy's house key. Kevin happily picked it up and made his way inside to the Ed's as they danced happily, thinking they had got away from Kevin and then started giving them what they were owed as soon as they noticed he had joined them. And he made sure he got in a few extra hits for whatever it was they did to Edd.

Edd stood outside the door. He could hear his friends wales as Kevin knocked them around good for their cruel pranks. The sounds of his friends cries made him regret giving Kevin the key, for a moment. 

“Edd help us!” he heard Eddy cry out.

“Sorry Eddy, you'll just have to put up with Kevin's Justified Pummel Disorder. I'm afraid there's nothing I can do.” It was justified. And it's not like Edd himself was doing the beating. Kevin was always going to go after them for what they did and, well, sooner rather than later. It really is their own fault. 

After a while, the sounds of punching and kicking stopped. Eddy and Ed lay dizzy and tangled in a pile of knots on the floor. Kevin walked out with a satisfied look on his face and stopped when he saw Edd still waiting at the entrance. He honestly expected him to have headed on home instead of sticking around while he pummeled the other two. He was still their friend after all.

“Hey, uh,” Kevin hesitated, “You OK?” Edd was a bit startled by the question, certainly not one he expected from Kevin. “I saw you kinda freak out and pass out earlier.”   
“Oh, just one of Eddy's pranks. Honestly, I can't believe I fell for it. But now I hope they'll think better of such hurtful acts going forward.” 

“Yeah, just let me know if you want me to pummel them again, it would be my pleasure.” 

“Well, hopefully, that won't be necessary. Thank you, Kevin.” Kevin gave Edd a once over as they walked off Eddy's lawn.

“You didn't actually end up in the hospital, did you?” Edd looked down at his outfit and remembered it was still wearing his hospital gown. The backless hospital gown! He blushed immediately and pulled the back tightly closed, angling his body so Kevin couldn't see his back.

“Oh, no no no. After I was rendered unconscious, a result of panic from thinking I had contracted a fatal disease urged on by Eddy, he and Ed put me into this as part of their prank to make me think I was, well, um, dying.”

“Whoa. That's messed up.”

“Yes, quite.” Edd looked dejected. Kevin wasn't sure what to say. He got along alright with Edd when it was just the two of them, but it's not like they were friends. He scratched the back of his neck and stood awkwardly on the sidewalk. Edd seemed to snap back to himself quickly enough though. “Well, I better head back home and, uh, get dressed into some proper clothes then. I'll see you around Kevin.” Edd started off towards his house, remembered the backless gown again, and then turned and nervously walked backwards until he made it to his door. Kevin laughed to himself as he watched Edd's backwards waddling and then went on home himself.

When Kevin got inside he found his mother still napping and cheered to himself that he got away with going outside. Although, he knew his dad would be getting home from work soon so he knew he should go wake her up. She slept through lunch so he made her a simple turkey and cheese sandwich, plus he figured a few extra brownie points wouldn't hurt since he knew he'd have to tell her about the wall. He'd offer to go clean it up before dad got home, but he already knew he'd be dragging Eddy and Ed out to clean it up since it was their mess.


	8. A Good Deed In Desperate Times

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Edd desperatly needs a shower and Kevin offers assistance.

The day just got worse and worse for poor Edd. First, he fell through the floor of his own bathroom because his dear mother and father decided to get it renovated. Too bad they let the only notice for this on a beam in the middle on the bathroom which had no floor, otherwise he would have known sooner and taken proper measures to ensure he had somewhere to take a shower that morning. Now, after a series of unfortunate shower-related events and a brief yet horrifying meltdown which resulted in Edd willfully jumping through half the trash cans in the culvasac, Edd was finally getting clean.

Sort of.

“Rub a dub dub, Double Dee!” Ed chanted gleefully as he scrubbed Edd down with the crud covered sponge in a kiddie pool behind Eddy's house. Eddy stood a few feet back, far enough to got get slashed with the brown water. He held back a laugh behind a tight grin while aiming the small trickled of ice-cold water from the hose onto Edd's head. 

There were bugs in the water, of this Edd was sure. He could feel them. But he wasn't sure if they were coming off of him or not, there seemed to be more than there were earlier and he was too terrified of the truth that it was easier for him to just focus really hard on being somewhere else right now. Maybe if he disassociated enough he could get through the whole day without crying, assuming he hadn't already started. The constant stream of cold water running down his face made it hard to tell. And the shaking could be from his own anxiety or it could be his body's natural reaction to the freezing temperature of the water. Edd was having a bit of a Schrodinger's Trauma right now. He was both having a breakdown and not having a breakdown at the same time and he really didn't want to know which was real.

Ed's sponging became more vigorous as he sang. “Splish splash, Double Dee was taking a bath! Out in Eddy's backyard.” He rubbed the mud-soaked sponge so hard into Edd's head that he was almost certain Edd just stuck his arm in his ear. Ed's enthusiasm then caused him to laugh loudly as he knocked Edd sideways with the sponge so that the poor boy fell halfway out of the small pool. Edd broke.

“I just wanted a shower!” he screamed as he pulled himself into the fetal position on the ground.

Kevin had finally finished his chores for the day and was heading out to go for a quick ride on his bike before lunch when he heard Edd yelling from Eddy's yard. Certain that the dorks were no doubt up to something he pulled himself up to the top of the fence to see what they were doing.

He found Eddy standing with a hand in his pocket while he poked Edd with his shoe, a hose in his hand letting water pool next to him. The big Ed had a big dirty sponge and was just rubbing it all over Edd. And Edd was just laying there.

“What are you dorks up to this time?” 

“Hello, Kevin!” Ed shouted.

“None of your business, shovel-chin!” 

“We're giving Double Dee a bath.” Eddy glared at his larger friend.

Looking closer Kevin could see Edd was not having a good time. He was shaking so much he was basically just vibrating and he had actual tears in his eyes.

“What's wrong with Double Dee?” 

“None of your business! Now buzz off would ya. We're handling this!” Eddy stood in front of Edd so Kevin couldn't see him. He then turned the hose on his friend and let the slow flow of water attempt to wash the grime away.

“You alright Double Dee?” Kevin asked as he stuck his neck out trying to get a better view.

“No! I'm covered in filth! I have no shower! And! I'm pretty sure there are bugs crawling all over me.” 

“More helping hands make the work go faster, Double Dee!” Ed said as he reached into the grass, pulled out a small beetle that was crawling by, and dropped it on Edd's face. Edd yelled incoherently.

“I thought you liked bugs, sockhead?”

“Not crawling all over my skin, Eddy!”

“Dude, I can't watch this. Just use my shower.” Kevin offers before he really gives himself a chance to think things through. Edd shoots up from his position on the ground and rushes over to the fence, “Yes please!”

“Hey! What the heck! You're just going to go off with HIM. After all me and Ed did for you.” Edd was already crawling over the top part of the fence when he answered.

“I appreciate your efforts, Eddy. However, this is an emergency.” Edd dropped to the ground and hurried after Kevin who stood by his front door. Edd got as far as the entryway when Kevin stopped him.

“Just wait here a second.” Kevin went to the linen closet and pulled out a stack of towels that he laid down. “I just finished cleaning up in here.” Edd suddenly felt very self-conscious. He was desperate for a shower so he really didn't think. Now that he stopped and thought about it, he was surprised Kevin would ever offer. Kevin really was very kind, Edd thought to himself as we waited for Kevin to signal to him it was safe to cross the room.

“I'm extremely sorry for the inconvenience, Kevin. I will surely have to make this up to you later.” 

“Yeah, whatever, just don't mess up the bathroom.” Kevin wasn't quite sure why he said that. This was Double Dee, even half-covered in mud be couldn't mess anything up if he tried. Even the towels that Kevin put down only had the barest amount of dirt on them from where Edd's foot landed before quickly moving on. He wanted to ask and find out what happened, but Kevin could see Edd was anxious to get into the shower so he just let him carry on. “Grab whatever you need out of the closet there.”

“That's again, Kevin.” Kevin closed the door. It was only a short moment before he heard the water turn on. He could move fast when he wanted to it seemed.

Kevin picked up the towels and brought them down to the wash. He'd make sure he had them put through the washer and dryer then put back into the closet before his mom got back. She finally got a day off from all the house-hold crap that she decided to take a day to do all the spa and shopping stuff she's been wanting to do.

After dropping the towels off, Kevin realized Edd probably didn't have any clean clothes to change into. He thought for a moment of letting Edd wear some of his clothes, but something about that thought embarrassed him and he quickly shook it out of his head. Instead, he ran back outside, jumped back up on the fence where he saw Eddy and Ed still in the backyard. Ed was admiring some of the bugs that were now climbing all over him while Eddy paced back and forth grumbling about something.

“Hey dorks!”

“What do you want now?” This time Eddy stood in front of Ed, almost like he was shielding the larger boy from Kevin's view. “You going to tempt Ed away too, shovel-chin?”

“What are you talking about. Look, just go grab Double Dee some clothes.”

“Why would I do anything for that traitor?”

“He's your friend, isn't he?” When Eddy didn't respond, Kevin groaned in annoyance. “Whatever, I'll do it myself.”

“Oh no, you don't! I'm not going to let you go poking around in Double Dee's house. You'd only mess things up anyway. Come on Ed,” Eddy grabbed Ed by the neck of his shirt and pulled him along towards Edd's house. Kevin shrugged and went back inside.

“Dorks.”

A few minutes later Eddy came back knocking on Kevin's door. When Kevin answered a plastic bag of Edd's clothes were shoved into his face, just as he went to grab it Eddy pulled the bag away. “You're not planning on doing anything to sockhead, are you? Mess with his stuff? Tar and feather him?”

“No, Eddy, chickens have feathers, not Double Dee,” Ed commented.

“I'm not going to mess with him, just give me the bag?” Kevin answered.

“Then what's in it for you? What's your angle here?” Kevin didn't have an answer. He stumbled for a bit, which Eddy took as a sign of guilt. “You're up to something.”

“Not a chance, Dork. Double Dee's supposed to be your friend, but you left him crying on the ground. Maybe it's you with the angle here.” Kevin reached forward and grabbed the bag, then slammed the door in Eddy's shocked face.

Kevin stomped over to the bathroom door and knocked before shouting, loud enough that Edd could hear him over the water, “There's some clean clothes in a bag on the doorknob for ya.” He heard a timid “thank you” and went to the living room to watch some t.v.

Edd has an absolutely lovely shower. The dirt and grime were gone, he no longer smelled of trash, all the little bugs who had been carried in on him were safely let out through the window, and he felt like himself again. His dirty clothes were wrapped up in the plastic bag that was on the doorknob and Edd contemplated just throwing them out. It probably wasn't worth the effort it would take to get them fully clean again. That was his favorite robe too. But Edd was really happy despite the loss of his rope. Finally getting clean after such a harrowing ordeal left him feeling such immense joy and gratitude that he could hardly contain it.

When Kevin heard the bathroom door open he turned off the t.v. and walked over, ready to let Edd know he can leave now. He had taken a long time in the shower. Not surprising when you consider just how covered in filth he was, but the water stopped running at least fifteen minutes again. What could he possibly be doing in there? He wondered. However, just as he went to open his mouth, his eye stopped on the shape of the bathroom.

“Whoa, you even cleaned the bathroom.” Kevin had just cleaned it himself, but Edd had somehow managed to make it like new.

“Kevin!” Edd, still giddy with joy over finally being clean, wrapped Kevin in a tight hug. “Thank you so much!” He then realized what he was doing and quickly pulled away with a nervous laugh. “I, uh, really appreciate it.”

“Yeah, no problem. And if you're going to keep it this clean then feel free to use it whenever.”

“Well hopefully that won't be an issue again, but I appreciate the gesture none-the-less. However, I do have one query. How exactly did you manage to get me a change of my own clothes? I admit I was so focused on the thought of just getting clean that I had neglected what I would change into afterward.”

“Oh, I just made the other two dorks go get your stuff. Figured it was the least they could do.”

“Eddy and Ed were in my room!” Edd's face turns from joy to fear, “rummaging through my drawers!” his voice gets louder in fear, “without supervision!” Edd wanted to scream, but seeing the look on Kevin's face, Edd forces a smile. “I'm sure it's fine, nothing I can't fix. But thank you very much for allowing me the use of your shower. I do feel so much better and am finally ready to start my day.”

As soon as Edd finishes talking, his stomach growls. 

Kevin chuckles. 

“Did you not eat today, dude. It's already lunchtime.” 

“I'm afraid with all the frenzy this morning trying to find a shower I forgot. But I can whip up a meal in no time,” and a little under his breath, “as long as mother and father haven't decided to renovate the kitchen too.”

“I have some leftovers from breakfast if you want some.” 

“I couldn't possibly impose. You've already been more than generous.” 

“Come on, it's no big deal. My mom always cooks too much anyway since my dad has a pretty big appetite sometimes.” 

“You're mother sounds like a wonderful cook.” Edd's stomach growls again. “If you're sure it's not too much trouble.”

Kevin gestures for Edd to sit at the table and makes a plate of leftover sausage, scrambled eggs, and hash-browns for Edd and heats it up in the microwave. “We got orange juice or milk.” 

“A glass of milk please, Kevin. Thank you.” Edd took the opportunity to look around Kevin's house. He had never had the chance before and he didn't really think he'd have another one anytime soon so he tried to commit the yellow floral accent wall and little rose cabinet handles to memory. It seemed that whoever decorated the house took a lot of care and had a very creative attention to detail.

Edd was surprised that when Kevin dropped the meal in front of him, he also sat himself with a glass of orange juice in the seat across.

“This looks delicious.” Edd began to dig in, his stomach happy to finally have something to eat, and something so satisfying as well. Kevin fidgeted a bit in his seat before he finally said anything.

“So, how'd ya end up like that anyway? You mentioned something about a renovation earlier.”

“Yes. It appears mother and father decided to renovate the bathroom. They left a note, of course, unfortunately, it was stuck to a beam in the center of the bathroom which I found only after the floor was removed. I attempted to locate a substitute shower but ran into a series of very unfortunate mishaps. Oh, I do hope the renovations are completed by tomorrow. Such a disturbance in my morning ritual really puts a damper on the entire day.”

“They really just ripped the whole floor out?”

“I fell right through.”

“That's rough.”

“You have no idea.” The two of them ended up chatting pleasantly for a while afterward, but Edd knew that Eddy and Ed would only get more anxious the longer he was with Kevin and he desperately needed to check on his room. He attempted to let Kevin clean his own plate, citing that Kevin had done enough already for him but the red-head just said he'd take care of it and took the plate to the sink. Edd said his goodbyes and let himself out.

“I better go check on Ed and Eddy. Thank you again, Kevin.” Ed turned to leave, his hand on the doorknob when he heard Kevin.

“Why are you friends with those two dorks anyway?” Kevin flinched. He hadn't meant to say that out loud. He just got to used to talking with Edd, it was easier than he expected. Edd's smile didn't falter. To the outside, he supposed it must seem like an odd friendship. He just shrugged.

“They just are Kevin. They are very dear friends.” And with that, he left.

He expected to be assaulted by his two friends as soon as he emerged, but they were nowhere to be seen. Although he quickly found them sitting in Eddy's backyard looking dejected.

“What's with the long faces you two?” He said as he approached them.

“Double Dee, you have returned!” Ed rushed him with a big bear hug.

“Of course Ed. I always intended to.” Edd looked over and saw Eddy still sulking. “Why, what's wrong Eddy?” Eddy didn't answer, so Ed answered for him.”

“We thought Kevin was going to steal you away, Double Dee. We weren't very good Double Dee washers and you ran away. Ed will get better at Double Dee washing. I promise!”

“Aww Ed, while I appreciate the sentiment, hopefully, that won't be necessary. I'm sure mother and father will ensure the bathroom is finished by morning. And I'm sorry if you felt abandoned by me. I could never leave you two.” Ed responded with an even tighter hug with a huge grin spread across his face, but Eddy still sulked. Edd asked for his larger friend to let him down and he went and sat at Eddy's side.

“I know you tried your best Eddy, I'm sorry I left.”

“What do I care, go hang out with your new friend.”

“I came back because I wanted to hang out with my best friends.” Eddy glanced back but said nothing. “You know, there is still plenty of time left in the day for a scam.” Eddy's ears perked up at this. “Sarah and Jimmy were doing a spa earlier, so maybe something that would pair well with that would be good.” Eddy's ear continued to lean into Edd as he spoke. “Where would someone like to do after getting all primped and polished? Maybe something that could help them complete their new makeovers? Get a new look?”

“Oh, I know Double Dee! They'll want to get chickens!”

“No, knucklehead, they'll want to go shopping. And we'll have all the most fashionable ensembles for them to buy! We'll make a fortune!” Eddy, now excited for his newest venture, started to run on ahead as he worked out all that he would need to make his newest plan work. He looked back and saw Edd still sitting where he was. “Come on sockhead, we'll need you to make this work!” 

“On my way, Eddy.”


End file.
